Africa Soil Health Consortium [Elektronisk resurs] Handbook for integrated soil fertility management

• Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 What is integrated soil fertility management (ISFM)? -- 1.3 How the handbook came about -- 1.4 Who are these materials designed for? -- 1.5 Contributors -- 2 The need for ISFM -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 The context -- 2.3 Farming systems development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) -- 2.4 Targeting technologies – from ‘silver bullets’ to ‘best fits’ -- 2.5 Conclusions -- 2.6 Reading list -- 3 Principles of ISFM -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 History of approaches to soil fertility management in SSA -- 3.2.1 Focus on mineral fertilizer use -- 3.2.2 The use of low-input methods for soil fertility improvement -- 3.2.3 Towards the integration of fertilizer and organic resource use -- 3.3 Definition of ISFM -- 3.3.1 Use of mineral fertilizers -- 3.3.2 Use of organic inputs -- 3.3.3 Use of improved germplasm -- 3.3.4 Effect of combining the use of fertilizer, organic inputs and germplasm -- 3.3.5 Importance of local adaptation -- 3.3.6 Optimizing agronomic efficiency -- 3.3.7 Sound agronomic principles -- 3.3.8 Sound economic principles -- 3.4 Conclusions -- 3.5 Reading list -- 4 Soil fertility management practices -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Use of organic inputs -- 4.2.1 Organics as sources of nutrients -- 4.2.2 The role of SOM in soil fertility -- 4.2.3 Advantages and disadvantages of organic inputs as fertilizers -- 4.3 Use of mineral fertilizers -- 4.3.1 Fertilizer materials -- 4.3.2 Soil amendments -- 4.4 Fertilizer use efficiency -- 4.5 The ‘4Rs’ for effective fertilizer use -- 4.5.1 Right fertilizer product -- 4.5.2 Right fertilizer rate -- 4.5.3 Right time for fertilizer application -- 4.5.4 Right placement of basal fertilizer -- 4.5.5 A fifth ‘right’ for fertilizer use in SSA – targeting the most remunerative options -- 4.6 Fertilizer use and the environment -- 4.6.1 Fertilizer use and sustainability -- 4.7 Minimizing losses of added nutrients -- 4.7.1 Water and wind erosion -- 4.7.2 Leaching -- 4.7.3 Gaseous losses through denitrification and volatilization -- 4.7.4 Crop residue management -- 4.8 Use of improved germplasm -- 4.8.1 Genetic yield potential -- 4.8.2 Pest and disease resistance -- 4.8.3 Nutrient use efficiency -- 4.8.4 Availability and quality of planting materials -- 4.8.5 Finding and selecting improved germplasm for use in ISFM -- 4.9 Harnessing the benefits of N2-fixing legumes -- 4.9.1 The components of a successful N2-fixing symbiosis -- 4.9.2 The need for inoculation with rhizobia -- 4.9.3 Legume contributions to soil fertility -- 4.10 Use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculants -- 4.11 Other soil fertility management practices -- 4.11.1 Conservation agriculture (CA): a silver bullet? -- 4.12 Organic agriculture -- 4.13 Adaptiveness of interventions -- 4.14 Economics -- 4.15 Conclusions -- 4.16 Reading list -- 5 Targeting ISFM options -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Farming systems analysis (FSA) -- 5.2.1 History of past activities -- 5.2.2 Collection of biophysical data -- 5.2.3 Identification of dominant farming systems in each domain -- 5.2.4 Clustering farmers in groups -- 5.2.5 Land:labour ratio -- 5.2.6 Assessment of risk -- 5.3 Cropping systems analysis -- 5.3.1 Field inspection -- 5.3.2 Estimation of yield gaps -- 5.3.3 Frequency and timing of visits -- 5.3.4 Farm record keeping -- 5.3.5 Use of a cropping calendar -- 5.3.6 Use of participatory budgeting -- 5.4 Soil fertility assessment -- 5.4.1 Flows of resources between and within farms -- 5.4.2 Deficiency symptoms -- 5.4.3 Indicator plants -- 5.4.4 Soil sampling -- 5.5 Markets and socio-economic drivers -- 5.5.1 Policy environment and the role of governments -- 5.5.2 Markets -- 5.6 Market development -- 5.7 Ex ante analysis of ISFM technology performance -- 5.7.1 Agronomic efficiency (AE) -- 5.7.2 Economic incentives -- 5.7.3 Market performance -- 5.7.4 Data required for ex ante analysis -- 5.8 On-farm testing of ISFM technologies -- 5.9 Ex post analysis of ISFM technology performance -- 5.10 Scaling up and scaling out adoption of ISFM solutions -- 5.10.1 Development of a communication strategy -- 5.11 Development of extension materials -- 5.11.1 Communicating directly with farmers -- 5.11.2 Extension service providers -- 5.11.3 Types of media -- 5.12 Use of information and communication technologies (ICT) -- 5.12.1 Mobile phones -- 5.12.2 Computers for Internet access -- 5.12.3 Video -- 5.12.4 Data storage -- 5.13 Conclusions -- 5.14 Reading list -- 6 Soil and crop production – an introduction -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Soil function and quality including quality indicators -- 6.2.1 Basic soil functions -- 6.2.2 Soil fertility -- 6.3 Soil as a source of water and nutrients for crop production -- 6.3.1 Mineral fraction -- 6.3.2 Organic fraction -- 6.4 Function of nutrients in plant production -- 6.4.1 Macronutrients -- 6.4.2 Micronutrients -- 6.5 Definition of soil fertility -- 6.6 Measurement of soil fertility -- 6.7 Conclusions -- 6.8 Reading list -- 7 Tables and reference information -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Soil sampling -- 7.3 How to determine soil bulk density -- 7.4 How to determine soil texture in the field -- 7.5 Farming systems analysis -- 7.6 Soil fertility management -- 7.7 Crop nutrition -- 7.8 Fertilizer use -- 7.9 Crop agronomy -- 7.10 Farm economics -- 7.11 General -- 7.12 Reading list -- Glossary -- Acronyms and abbreviations -- Index. 

• This ISFM handbook is organized into seven sections that include: an introduction, the need for ISFM, the principles of ISFM, soil fertility management practices, targeting ISFM options, an introduction to soil and crop production and a section containing tables, definitions and reference information. The entire project team that includes the TAG hopes that the reader finds this handbook a useful tool for tackling soil fertility and management on the continent and elsewhere where similar factors of production are at play. 

Ämnesord

best management practices 

crop yield 

reference standards 

fertilizers 

nutrients 

soil fertility 

application rates 

crop production